‘Hitman: Agent 47’ Trailer #2 & Poster: Always Close the Contract

Comic book film adaptation reboots are par for the course in Hollywood nowadays, though the same cannot be said for movies based on video game properties. That might change in the future, though, starting with the August 2015 release of Hitman: Agent 47. The latter is based on the same stealth game series that was previously brought to the big screen in 2007 with Hitman, starring Timothy Olyphant (Justified) as an elite assassin identifiable only by the barcode ‘640509-040147′ tattooed on the back of his head (the ’47’ identifies him as the 47th in a series of clones).

Agent 47 sees Rupert Friend (Homeland) take over the role of ’47’, while Hannah Ware (Boss, Betrayal) costars as Katia van Dees: the daughter of the man who created the ‘Agent’ program in the first place (the latter being played by Game of Thrones‘ alum Ciarán Hinds). Hannah, at first, is led to believe that ’47’ is hunting her down in an effort to kill her, but it soon becomes clear to her that not everything is as it seems.

The newly-released second Agent 47 trailer (see above) delves deeper into the film’s plot and mythos, confirming that Hannah herself is the product of genetic modification (just like ’47’), and that the fellow who at first presented himself as Hannah’s ally – played by Star Trek‘s Zachary Quinto – is, in reality, a shady member of a mega-corporation, out to unlock the secret of the Agent program and create their own army of cloned assassins. It’s a much more revealing theatrical preview for that reason (compared to the Agent 47 teaser), but also places the same emphasis on the movie’s stylized action sequences – and makes similar use of Brick+Mortar’s “Voodoo Child” cover – as previously-unveiled Agent 47 clips.

On that note, you can check out the new Hitman: Agent 47 poster, below (via IGN):

Agent 47 is the feature-length film directorial debut for Aleksander Bach, whose previous experience is largely based in the realm of music video filmmaking. For that reason, it’s not so surprising that Agent 47 trailer footage aesthetically bears a strong resemblance to a music video, as opposed to a distinctly cinematic thriller. Similarly, the Agent 47 script was co-written by Michael Finch (Predators) and Hitman (2007) scribe Skip Woods (who also penned A Good Day to Die Hard and Sabotage), so on every level this particular video game adaptation is a B-movie production. That doesn’t mean Agent 47 won’t end up being an enjoyable piece of brainless shoot-em-up action, but this ‘stealth thriller’ seems a bit light on the ‘stealth’ of its source game.

No matter how Agent 47 goes over, though, video game adaptations could soon become ‘the next big thing’ around Hollywood, as we have noted in the past. Case in the point, the Assassin’s Creed video game movie adaptation begins production later this year (from the team behind this year’s buzzed-about Macbeth film adaptation), while reboots of such video games-turned movies as Tomb Raider are currently in active development. The success (or lack thereof) of Agent 47 shouldn’t slow down those projects’ momentum, either.